IT Cosmetics, the now-iconic brand founded by Jamie Kern Lima for people with conditions such as rosacea, is today launching a campaign to empower everyone to feel more confident in their own skin.
The Go For IT! campaign sees IT Cosmetics partner with two nonprofit organisations – the community loan-sourcing firm Kiva, and LeanIn, the global community, founded by Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg set up to help women achieve their ambitions via workshops, research, and events.
With Kiva, IT Cosmetics is asking customers to loan $25 to female entrepreneurs and for every loan, IT Cosmetics will match it, up to $100,000. Customers in the US can also apply for a loan via the scheme, to IT Community members are also invited to apply for a loan to fuel their passion projects or careers.
FURTHER READING: Study finds a quarter of women hate the way they look – and almost a fifth feel worthless
By 2030, IT Cosmetics commits to lending $2 million to support women businesses through the Kiva platform.
Through its partnership with LeanIn.Org, IT Cosmetics wants to empower its customers and staff to create Lean In Circles. These are workshops that connect small groups of women to share experiences, build each other up, and celebrate successes.
Additionally, IT Cosmetics will use its platform to spotlight inspiring stories from members of the IT Community as they explore their own relationships with confidence.
As you can read in our IT Cosmetics brand spotlight, the brand was founded by former news anchor, Jamie Kern Lima. While working on TV, she struggled with rosacea so she partnered with plastic surgeons and dermatologists to develop beauty products to cover up while protecting and helping the skin.
The IT in IT Cosmetics stands for Innovative Technology and after years of rejection, she removed her makeup live on QVC, showcasing just how good her products were. Her Bye Bye Under Eye Concealer sold out in less than 10 minutes.
“IT Cosmetics believes that confidence comes from the inside and is cultivated when women have the self-assuredness and community networks to lift them up,” Kristen Comings, Senior Vice President, Consumer Engagement at IT Cosmetics said.
THE CONFIDENCE REPORT
According to the Women’s Confidence report, British women see confident women as being self-assured (50%) and courageous (56%), yet only 14% and 18% respectively associate themselves with those qualities.
The lowest confidence rating across the board.
Meanwhile, the country with the most confident women was Mexico.
Mexican women see confident women as being purposeful (86%) and brave (64%), and 53% and 47% associated themselves with those qualities.
To coincide with this International Women’s Day campaign, IT Cosmetics has also released the results of the world’s largest study on women’s confidence, a three-year project that involved interviewing 176 women and issuing 11,000 online surveys across America, France, Germany, Mexico, the UK, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Russia, and Australia.
Based on these interviews and surveys, countries were given a Women’s Confidence (WOCO) score to showcase how confidence varies on a global scale.
According to the results of the Women’s Confidence report, IT Cosmetics found our confidence is not a personal matter — rather, it is a relational and collective issue.
For example, there appears to be a significant gap between how women see themselves, versus how they view confident women. While the traits women link to confidence differed by country, the study found that the struggle with self-confidence is universal.
“I poured my heart and soul into founding IT Cosmetics because I wanted people, like me, who didn’t feel seen or heard in the beauty industry, to know they are beautiful, confident, and loved,” Jamie said.
“It is my dream for all of us to lift each other up, celebrate our differences, and support one another on our individual confidence journeys. That’s what IT’s all about!”
This resonates with the reasons why we set up mamabella and we’re delighted such a powerful voice in the industry is making such a stand.
Victoria is founder and editor-in-chief of mamabella, freelance journalist and Mum. She has a passion for empowering people to feel beautiful whatever their age, size, skin type and budget
